Today’s game brought the Tour to Alliance Bank Park, home of the Sky Chiefs, Triple-A affiliate of the Blue Jays. Like the Blue Jays, the Sky Chiefs play their games on artificial turf, making it only the 3rd or 4th game we’ve seen so far where the team plays on turf. Good news for fans of grass—the turf is scheduled to be replaced with natural grass after the 2007 season. Tonight’s game featured an interesting promotion—a “Sal-ute to Moustaches” featuring a contest for “Syracuse’s Best Moustache”—in honor of Sal Fasano, the legendary backup catcher (formerly of the Phillies, Yankees, Orioles, Royals, Oakland As, Rockies, and Angels) who is probably better known for his Fu Manchu moustache than his playing abilities. Sal spent the pre-game signing autographs (see picture above) for fans of all ages. I even spotted one guy wearing a “Sal’s Pals” t-shirt from his Citizen Bank Park days. For $1, kids were able to get their own moustache drawn on their face with a face paint marker—with all of the money being donated to Sal’s favorite charity. Good times were had by all, even if the crowd was a bit sparse for a Sunday night game.

In the 8th inning, the Sky Chiefs crowned the finest moustache—the prize went to an older gentleman who had an out of control moustache that probably only is good to have if you are entering these kinds of contests on a regular basis. The winner received a bat autographed by Sal Fasano, a “Sal’s Pals” t-shirt, a beard & moustache trimmer, and a $50 gift certificate to NAPA. No word if the winner would actually use the beard and moustache trimmer to trim his facial hair. For all of those wondering, the word “moustache” was used nine times during this post—a new record for the TFTC.